Vandy in the
SEC
Vanderbilt is currently 12-6 in SEC (35-8
overall), which puts them two games ahead of South Carolina and Florida (both
10-8). Kentucky (7-10-1),
Tennessee (6-10) and Georgia (6-12) bring up the rear of the east. In the west Arkansas sports the best
conference record (13-5) and has the tiebreaker over Vanderbilt for the SEC
regular season title because the Hogs took two of three from the Commodores in
Fayetteville.
Vandy in the
Polls
Vanderbilt moved up to No. 2 in the
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll (Florida State is No. 1). The Commodores stayed No. 1 in the USA
Today/ESPN Top 25 and Baseball America polls (Florida State is No. 2 in both
those polls).
The SEC and the
RPI
Vanderibilt is currently ranked No. 1
nationally Warren Nolan's
College Baseball RPIs. The
'Dores are followed by Rice (2),
South Carolina (3), Texas A&M (4), Texas (5) and Mississippi State (6). Nolan rates the remaining SEC teams as
Ole Miss (9), Arkansas (13), Florida (33), LSU (37), Auburn (40), Kentucky (57),
Alabama (73), Tennessee (88) and Georgia (129).
Nick Christiani makes SEC
comeback
After being moved to mid week status
Vanderbilt Nick Christiani came on strong during the Tennessee series. Christiani pitched five solid innings in
Sunday's sweeping win over the Vols, allowing just one run and two hits. Un-freshman like Mike Minor
continues to impress. Minor
currently possesses a 7-0 record and spiffy 2.0 ERA. David Price, also 7-0, was spectacular
in Friday’s 3-1 win over UT. He
struck out an incredible 14 batters and walked none. Unlike years past, there is no
question who Vandy's closer is in 2007. Casey Weathers did everything asked of
him during the weekend series vs. the Vols. He picked up two huge saves while
striking out five and even picked up a win in Sunday's game.
Feinberg and de la Osa have good
weeks
Dominic de la Osa also was 7 for 18 with two
homers over for the week. He also
had six RBI and scored four runs.
De la Osa also now has 10 homers on the season which is a career high for him. Alex Feinberg also had a good week, also
finishing with 7 for 18 batting.
Tennessee Tech/Florida on
deck
It'll be home sweet home again for the
Commodores this week as Tennessee Tech visits on Wednesday (6 p.m.) This weekend Vanderbilt faces
another critical 3-game series against Florida. Friday's game starts at 7 p.m. while
Saturday's gets going at 3 p.m. (SUN TV).
Sunday’s game will begin at 1 p.m. (CSS TV).
Key SEC match up (other than Vanderbilt-Florida)
Arkansas at Auburn. After a rough start in the SEC,
the Tigers have shown much improvement in recent weeks. If Auburn can surprise Arkansas and take
the series it certainly helps Vandy's SEC regular season title
hopes.